Clinical Research Studies

The study is designed to identify the best way to treat pulmonary embolism, specifically when there is a large amount of clot but the patient’s blood pressure is stable. While this condition is sometimes life-threatening, either of the treatments in this study work well to help people survive. Less is known about which treatment helps people do better in terms of breathing, heart function, and ability to exercise over time.

All patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) are treated with blood thinner medicines (anticoagulation). Sometimes, doctors will additionally do a procedure using a catheter to either remove the clot or give clot-dissolving medicines (catheter-directed therapy). These procedures are known to be important when patients are unstable and have a high risk of death. It is less clear whether doing these procedures help patients who have a large amount of clot but who are more stable and at lower risk. This study, called PE-TRACT, compares blood thinners alone to blood thinners plus catheter-directed therapy in order to answer these questions and be able to provide patients with the most effective treatment. This is a national multi-site clinical trial and NYU Langone Health (NYULH) is the central coordinating center for the study and an enrollment site.

Both treatment approaches are considered standard care and commonly used for patients with pulmonary embolism who are stable but who have large amounts of clot. The clot-dissolving medicine used in catheter-directed therapy is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this use specifically, but is commonly used for pulmonary embolism procedures as part of standard care. The devices used are approved by the FDA to deliver the blood clot-dissolving medicine or remove clots.